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AS Vel Satis - the story continues


Dan_ZTT

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1 hour ago, NorthernMonkey said:

That 350 engine is an absolute peach...it was in the Elgrand I had and was bloody lovely!

Absolutely, trying to change an engine mount was a bastard though, it weighed a ton!

The power output matched it's weight pretty well. The feeling of something the size of a cathedral shifting with such enthusiasm is quite alarming.

On mine, the handbrake issue reared it's head, a series of panicky emergency releases, and re-engaging the system sorted it somehow. (aka monkey smashing all the buttons method)

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Id just  seen this thread and the hubnut video have popped into my suggestion list  spooky ..or the algorithm  has realised I like shitty French (and Italian... and British) cars.  I can't remember the last time I saw one if real life, the vastness is quite epic to make a XJ6 look small.

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38 minutes ago, Low Horatio gearbox said:

Id just  seen this thread and the hubnut video have popped into my suggestion list  spooky ..or the algorithm  has realised I like shitty French (and Italian... and British) cars.  I can't remember the last time I saw one if real life, the vastness is quite epic to make a XJ6 look small.

Yes it's true somehow in pics the size doesn't come across.  Actually seeing one though brings out the true 'kin 'ell that fuckers big !

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Got some time with this today and thought I'd have a look at that heater blower, had some minor success

 

Removed glovebox and blower assembly

IMG_20210121_120851_1.thumb.jpg.f1456bbcd9da2b9d05be2e4c9203585f.jpg

 

The resistor pack looked alright inside and there was nothing else obviously wrong

IMG_20210121_121257_2.thumb.jpg.0848f617e0bfb3ea700a8c74707b9b4f.jpg

 

Pushed and pulled some wires and things with the power on and... it lives!

 

So looks like just a dodgy join there, win. Took a bit of force to get the bad connector apart, plastic looked a bit melty. Looks like it isn't necessary though, I can just cut it and solder these joins instead right?

IMG_20210121_145511_1.thumb.jpg.2d5e6ed229cf321b51c90ee4b5523fd5.jpg

 

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Since I had easy access I thought I'd take a quick look at the pollen filter at the same time

Not looking promising...

IMG_20210121_124241_1.thumb.jpg.9af45de4bbd5c3349840168b414c3976.jpg

 

Yep. Nasty.

IMG_20210121_124317_1.thumb.jpg.a2ec0ec8243544344ac25f7378fa77b0.jpg

Helpful to have a car park ticket in there to date it though

 

ECP have a sale on (who'd have thought?) so a replacement has been ordered

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Some good news on the blower front, I did cut and solder that join the other day, it worked and it's still working so I'm calling that done, happy days.

Another bonus, I might* have absolutely floored it onto the dual carriageway on my way to Lidl this morning, a bit of an acceleration test, and immediately after I did that the 'handbrake faulty' message disappeared, and it didn't come back on the way home either. A warning-free dash on this is a rare and pleasant sight...

IMG_20210128_134327_1.thumb.jpg.cd72350209cf20ea2ac8a012763620f7.jpg

 

(the 'screenwash low' warning does still appear on startup but that one goes away after a minute. That's next on the fixing list)

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  • 1 month later...

Handbrake warning came back within a few days, hasn't gone away this time. Ah well.

 

In other news, it let me down today;

It hadn't moved in weeks due to lockdown etc so I gave things a check over on Monday afternoon - tyres, fluids etc, all ok. Battery was only showing 11.5V but the car fired up on the button and it showed 14V+ running so I didn't worry about it.

Tuesday morning it again started fine and I went about 15 miles to my father in law's house to sort out some stuff, all good, back home a few hours later and again all fine.

Now this morning (Thursday) I came out to it and it wouldn't unlock on the remote. Guessed dead fob battery, replaced, still nothing. Opened with the emergency key in the passenger door, alarm sounds, won't go off, car won't start. In the end I had to open the bonnet and disconnect the battery to stop the siren. Checked again and it was only showing 4V. Had to rush out so took wife's car and haven't got back yet.

I'll try sticking it on charge later, hopefully that'll sort it all out, if not do you guys think this is just a dead battery or is there anything else I should be looking for?

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On 1/22/2021 at 5:36 AM, Rod/b said:

I don’t get these, never have. They’ve always looked like dowdy pensioner transport to me. Totally slippers.

I can't say I ever want to own one but I'm glad they exist and to be honest my feeling is it's done well to cover 271K miles

I have a mate who thinks they are fantastic but he's never owned one :D

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+1 on likely battery woes; take it in to a motor factor to check the cells for confirmation, but the last thing you want is to have the vehicle off the road for three months while you spend weekends trying to repair the keyfob and chase the weird alarm/immobiliser fault, only to find out it was the fluffing battery the whole time.

Ask me how I know...

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French stuff often gets upset by low voltage. I had a C5 that went batshit crazy on a dying battery every fault on every system I didn't even know it had. New battery and the fairy lights went away. Never know, it might even cure the handbrake fault 😂 😂 😂 

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I bought a battery for this to fix something I've long since forgotten about, but put it on my bay window instead.

In other exciting VS news - I am amazed that in the two years since it departed barefoot towers, no-one has mentioned the extensive collection of French music that I burnt onto CDs & fed into the multi changer. There's albums from Vanessa Paradise, Alizé, Desireless, Francis Lai...

There's even an hour of accordian music on a loop!

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When I ran my lag2 with a fucked battery anything under 48ish hours and it'd fire up. Over that and I'd push the button and get the relay machine guns! 

It always unlocked mind, although I could tell if I had to get the keys for the Zafira by the tone of the horn plip bless it! 

Deffo get a new battery, there's so many modules dependant on the voltage I'd not trust the handbrake light until its changed, I imagine that pulls some mega volts when it moves the cables, 0.0001mv less could upset it, it's French after all

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18 minutes ago, barefoot said:

I bought a battery for this to fix something I've long since forgotten about, but put it on my bay window instead.

In other exciting VS news - I am amazed that in the two years since it departed barefoot towers, no-one has mentioned the extensive collection of French music that I burnt onto CDs & fed into the multi changer. There's albums from Vanessa Paradise, Alizé, Desireless, Francis Lai...

There's even an hour of accordian music on a loop!

I loved it. My favourite radio station is FIP out of France and on a cold Cambridgeshire night, one could have been on the Avenue du General de Gaulle heading home to a townhouse in the East of Paris.

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1 hour ago, barefoot said:

I bought a battery for this to fix something I've long since forgotten about, but put it on my bay window instead.

In other exciting VS news - I am amazed that in the two years since it departed barefoot towers, no-one has mentioned the extensive collection of French music that I burnt onto CDs & fed into the multi changer. There's albums from Vanessa Paradise, Alizé, Desireless, Francis Lai...

There's even an hour of accordian music on a loop!

A lot of that has gone missing I'm afraid!

Just the one Vanessa Paradis CD in it when it got to me, I have enjoyed that though

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An update. Looks like I'm an idiot.

This car doesn't have a tell-tale for the sidelights (or maybe it does and the bulb's gone), I suddenly remembered I had them on driving home tuesday, obviously left them on and that's what's killed it...

On charge now, will try to start it later

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3 hours ago, Dan_ZTT said:

An update. Looks like I'm an idiot.

This car doesn't have a tell-tale for the sidelights (or maybe it does and the bulb's gone), I suddenly remembered I had them on driving home tuesday, obviously left them on and that's what's killed it...

On charge now, will try to start it later

I disabled the auto lights. They'd come on when you pulled under a petrol station canopy or anything a little dull, but they NEVER WENT OFF AGAIN! I drove somewhere, the cheeky French car would put the lights on, but never ever put them off again. The worst bit of automotive design in the world ever!

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  • 5 weeks later...

An update!

Battery is fine, it was me being daft with the lights. Done a few hundred miles since then with no problems and the handbrake warning has disappeared again too and stayed off, bonus.

I've also inherited a Honda Civic which means the Vel Satis is now FOR SALE - advert linked below;

 

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